


Not From Beneath But Within

by TeamHPForever



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: M/M, Zombies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-15
Updated: 2014-09-15
Packaged: 2018-02-17 12:41:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2310005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeamHPForever/pseuds/TeamHPForever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two years after the kaiju invasion was defeated, there's a new threat to the world: Zombies.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not From Beneath But Within

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this quite a while ago and just recently uncovered it in my files. I'm not a huge zombie person so it's meant to be a oneshot but could be more if I can think of a direction.

It was two years before the next threat to the world arrived. Zombies of all things. If Newt hadn’t seen the reports, he wouldn’t have believed it. The world’s obsession with zombies had been brushed aside by the violent appearance of the  kaiju.  But now it was a reality. 

The Jaegars—decommissioned since the fall of the  kaiju and the destruction of the breach—were brought back. Not that they were very effective. The massive suits were not designed to fight a mass threat of small predators. 

No. To fight those, they would need man power. 

Newt and Hermann found themselves in a bunker. Weapons were scarce, but Hermann had managed to acquire a sniper rifle. Newt’s human-sized replica of the Gipsy Danger sword hung at his belt. 

“One million, fifty-six,” Hermann mumbled at his computer. “One million, six thousand, seven hundred, and twelve by midnight.” 

“Just as long as we’re not two of them.” Newt paced the floor, his hand restless on his sword hilt. 

“Not probable. Stop that infernal pacing. I can’t focus.” Hermann scowled at his best friend. 

“It’s not my fault we’re stuck in here.” Newt couldn’t stop pacing. “That any moment now they could crash through the ceiling and bash out our brains.” 

Hermann left his numbers with an annoyed sigh and stepped in front of Newt to halt him. He reached out with an always hesitant hand and rested it on his fellow scientist’s shoulder. “We are safe here.” 

“For now.” Newt flashed back to being trapped in the bunker with the cold ice of fear in the air before the  kaiju ripped through the ceiling like it was paper. 

Hermann felt the memory coming. It wasn’t the same as being in the drift but a subtle echo of that intimate connection. 

He wanted to wrap his arms around his friend, to comfort him, to remind him that it was the two of them together once more. But he couldn’t bring himself to. Newt felt it and did it for him, just like he did that day they’d averted the apocalypse. Hermann’s body was stiff and warm next to him. 

“Let go of me you crazy bastard,” Hermann growled without an ounce of his normal venom. 

Newt held on for a few more moments and then let go, returning to his pacing. Hermann went back to his computers. 

Not twenty minutes later, a door banged open above them. Newt froze, drawing his sword. Hermann’s hand reached for his rifle and he settled it down on the table like he was prepared to defend his computers to the death. 

Which, he probably was. 

The first wave came almost instantly, a mass of stumbling, writhing bodies. Hermann took shots with ultimate precision and calm. 

It was all numbers. Angle of trajectory. Velocity. Distance. 

Newt stood out of the line of fire, drawing the zombies away from Hermann and giving him the chance to make those shots. 

The bodies piled up quickly, blocking the next wave from getting through. The reek of death and rotting flesh hung in the air, making it difficult to breathe. 

The flow slowed to a trickle and then stopped. Newt stopped breathing to listen for more but all was silent. Silent until Hermann leaned over and retched underneath the table. 

Newt walked over to him and ran his fingers through his hair until his breathing steadied. 

“We need to get out of here, man,” Newt said. 

Hermann nodded. They packed up the rifle, as much of the ammo as they could carry, and their supplies. As Newt was cleaning his sword as best he could, the groans and the sounds of shifting bodies could be heard once more. 

“Let’s go!” Newt shouted. The groans were louder. Hermann limped over to his computers, but Newt grabbed his hand and pulled him away. “Leave them. We can’t carry them with us.” 

Hermann rested a hand on the top of his favorite screen and turned away just as the first zombie busted through. 

“There’s a second passage at the back,” Newt reminded him. 

“I know. I’m not an idiot and I’ve been here as long as you have,” Hermann said as he opened the hatch and climbed through. 

Newt killed the first few zombies to make it through before he followed. The hatch snapped shut behind them. 

“What if it’s not safe at the other end?” Newt asked. 

“Then you should have thought of that before we climbed in the bloody thing.” 

Gradually the passage widened until they were able to stand. Hermann staggered slightly and Newt slipped an arm over his shoulders without a word. The passage opened into an empty staircase. The way up was slow and painstaking, made even more so by the occasional body draped over the stairs. 

Newt could sense Hermann’s angry frustration with himself, the one thing numbers couldn’t fix, but he just tightened his grip. 

“We’ll find you another computer,” Newt said. “A better one.” 

Hermann scoffed at that, but his grip on Newt’s waist tightened a bit as his face softened. “I can get another computer. I can’t get another you.” 

“I’m sure you could build one,” Newt replied lightly. 

Any chance of further conversation ended as they arrived at the top of the landing. Newt drew his sword and opened the door. The sun stung their eyes, making them draw back and slam the door again. 

“The sun is out,” Newt muttered. 

“Obvious, even for you,” Hermann replied dryly. 

“Next time we’re standing in front of a door with possible creatures on the other side that want to rip our flesh from our bones, you can open it.” 

Hermann didn’t dignify that with a response. He cracked the door open, letting in a slender beam of light so their eyes could adjust. 

Slowly the door opened to reveal the top of a large building. There were no signs of zombies, not even dead ones. Could zombies be dead if they were already? Perhaps there should be another word for it. 

Newt went over to the edge to look down, taking in the carnage of the city. A horde of zombies lumbered by below, failing to look up. 

“What do you think would happen,” Newt wondered aloud, “if we all died out. If their food supply ended—?” 

His questions were cut off when a zombie leapt from the shadows of the corner and wrapped its disjointed arms around his chest. 

“Newton!” Hermann reached for his rifle but there was nothing to brace it against, nothing he could do but stand and watch his best friend be turned into a monster. 

Newt ripped his sword out of its sheath but the zombie was too strong. This battle was hand-to-hand, the quarters much too close for him to be able to get the sword up into a fighting position. He glances back as Hermann pulled the pistol out from his waistband. 

They’d never used it before. Hermann didn’t trust his own aim well enough. Firing a pistol was not like firing a sniper rifle. There was too much at stake. 

Hermann steadied his weight against the wall and braced the pistol against his forearm. He wasn’t about to watch Newt die, not without a fight. The two of them were too close. He watched them wrestle, waiting for the perfect chance. 

Numbers. 

It was all numbers. 

“Duck!” he shouted. 

Newt understood. But then, Hermann shouldn’t have been surprised. They’d drifted together. They’d been inside each other’s heads, seen things that they’d never told anyone and probably never would again. 

Newt dropped his head, pulling out of the zombie’s grip before its teeth could sink into his bare throat. Hermann pulled the trigger. The gun kicked in his hand, jarring all the way up his arm, but there was no need to make another shot. The zombie crashed over the wall and plummeted toward the street below. 

Newt went to watch but Hermann pulled him away, yanking him into a hug. “You are okay,” he murmured, more a statement than a question. 

Years ago, if Hermann had been asked, he would have said that if humanity was destroyed he would prefer to be alone than stuck forever with another person. It didn’t matter who it was, he depended only on himself and that was the way it should be. 

He was glad to have Newt with him. He was glad that he wasn’t alone in all of this horror and madness. 

“Thanks to you,” Newt said, hugging him back. Hermann’s arms were awkward around him but he didn’t mind. He knew what this moment meant to the both of them. They pulled away a bit but didn’t let go. 

“I’m glad that you’re the last person on Earth with me,” Newt said, like he could hear Hermann’s thoughts from earlier. 

“There are still billions of people le--” Hermann began (over seven billion to be precise, though that number would continue to decline unless someone could find a way to end it) but he didn’t get the chance to finish. 

Newt kissed him, soft and slow and hesitant. It wasn’t what Hermann would have expected, given his friend’s hectic and bull-headed nature, but it was also better. Their hands stayed where they were, comforting but not overly tight. 

Hermann was the first to pull away. He thought about finishing his sentence from earlier, but decided to let it go. Newt knew they weren’t the last two people on Earth, but that didn’t mean it didn’t feel like it. For both of them. 

“We saved the world once,” Newt said. “You you think we can do it again?” 

“We are going to own this thing for sure,” Hermann replied and just like that it was the two of them against a monster once more. 


End file.
